As hordes of refugees and looters pour out of the cities, a small group of friends living in the Midwest desperately tries to make their way to a safe-haven ranch in northern Idaho. The journey requires all their skill and training since communication, commerce, transportation and law enforcement have all disappeared. Once at the ranch, the group fends off vicious attacks from outsiders and then looks to join other groups that are trying to restore true Constitutional law to the country.

The most interesting thing inside the book was the invasion. After the first wave of looting and civil unrest, the invasion happened. The invading force was consisted of NATO forces and the main purpose of the invasion was to break the free spirit of the American people and force them into supporting some weirdos. The weirdos wanted to exploit the people, take all their guns, you know, the regular stuff. The main wave was consisted of Germans (German NATO forces), then the Belgians came. All of them had armored vehicles and heavy machinery. And big guns.

So is this scenario really believable?

Trump wants to jump on North Korea. Hurricanes have been harassing us for years. Earthquakes around us in Mexico. Global warming. Terrorists bomb France, Germany, England and Russia. And that’s just for the last 6 months. Just imagine what will happen in the next 5 or 10 years. So yes, a collapse is very possible. At least an economic collapse and the fall of the US dollar. And marauders will come after that.

The world seems it’s coming to an end.Should we be concerned?

Yes, you should. People have been building bunkers and underground facilities even from the Iron Age. They used caves then. Prehistoric people used to dig up caves and holes in the ground and hide their wives and children there while on the hunt or when at war. Every President has his own bunker now, etc.

It’s not a craze. It’s crucial for survival. Other extravagant people have towers, and tree houses are becoming more trending with the years. It’s easy to build a house tree out of wood, and you can hide it pretty good from bad people. The natural camouflage of the trees and forests will work in your advantage too.

People will think I went full looney bin crazy.

Being a “survivalist” could make you look like a crazy hobo. Like everything else that’s not suited for “city boys and girls”. People have a perception for “normal”, and for the average hillbilly, you wearing a suit and tie could mean the very same thing. But if you hide your intentions and quietly prepare for SHTF (when S h*t H its T he F an), I don’t think you’d have a problem.

Also, it’s very important to hide your intentions anyways, if you’re prepping. Because being a “prepper” will make you a number one target for 2 main reasons:

1. You could be a threat to someone if you’re well armed and trained. Greater threats are firstly eliminated. 2. Having resources, food, water, firearms, ammo, knives, technology, clothes, vehicles that can be taken from you.

Why would anyone want to steal from me? We have guns. We will shoot.

For the same reason the prisons are full. Not all stupid people are bad, but maybe 50% of the stupid people on this world are arrogant. And high arrogance leads to uncalculated decisions. The perp is mainly driven by his clouded judgment that he’s superior and will win at all times. Sometimes “with the help of God”.

I can give you a fine example immediately. Hitler invaded Russia and declared war on the United States, both at the same time. He clearly was thinking he could win the war and put Russia on its knees and then the US would just “resign”. That’s clearly delusional. You can’t just win a war against the whole world incl. against a whole bunch of European countries, Canada, Australia and many other.

Power leads to biased judgments, people.

How to start preparing? What should I buy?

You’ll need the so called “Go-bag” or a “Bug-out bag”, also called the “BOB”. That backpack, pack or satchel normally has the items you would require to survive for at least 72 hours. Or you can stuff it and survive for more than 72 hours. It’s a personal choice. The bag must be always fully equipped so you can quickly grab it and escape. If there’s an earthquake, you need to react fast. You don’t have time to pick up your clothes or make sandwiches!

#HowToWhatever recommends you keep these items in your home, or at your bunker / tree house / man cave, starting from top to bottom in the order of importance from high to low priority:

1. Cold Steel folding knife with a Tri-Ad Lock locking mechanism. Preferably something bigger like the Cold Steel Rajah II or the Cold Steel Spartan. You can also pick up a Busse fixed knife with INFI steel. Swamp Rat and Scrap Yard are fine too, since it’s basically the same company, but a different division. It’s a family run company and a few of the family members have the other divisions. The price is a tad high, but for a reason. The heat treatment on these is insane. You can’t break them. Nobody does. Doesn’t matter how cold it is. You can’t dull that easily either. Cold Steels are also insane. Andrew Demko’s patented design is something you have to bow down to! The folding knife now becomes a fixed blade.

You can survive without a duct tape, but you can’t survive without a knife. You need to be able to cut bandages, cut tape, cut sailcloth, clothes, fabric, chop wood, dig ground, while it’s not so recommended because sand can, and it will dull your blade out; and for self-defense and hunting of course.

Get a spare knife too. You need 2, just in case, if you lose it or if it breaks.

P.S. The Swamp Rat Ratmandu is a good affordable model. Not too big to carry.

The Finnish people have a proverb saying: “A knifeless man is a lifeless man.”

2. Powerful flashlight with around 1,000 or more lumens of power. You can pick any of the renowned brands: NiteCore, JetBeam, Olight, Fenix, Klarus, EagleTac, etc. that use Li-Ion Rechargeable 18650 batteries. The high quality batteries are expensive, but if you want your flashlight to function properly, get expensive like NiteCore, Olight, EagleTac, etc.

Get a spare flashlight if the first one malfunctions. I had a ZebraLight that stopped working after a week of light usage. A manufacturer defects happen even within the best products. Do you really think Rolex watches don’t malfunction? Come on!

3. Charger for your batteries. You can buy the Nitecore Digicharger D4 charging device. It can simultaneously charge up to 4 big batteries. And buy spare 18650 batteries for your flashlights. The Digicharger is very well made.

4. A pistol, rifle, carbine, whatever you can get your hands on. Don’t have too much because you won’t be able to carry it. A pistol like the H&K USP in .45 or 9×19 and a single AR-15 carbine is fine. And ammo. Get ammo!

5. Silver and gold. I’m not sure why, but even “aliens used to collect it”, some people say. Gold is one the best electrical conductors on Earth and it has very high corrosion resistance. Silver is the best electrical conductor (conductivity refers to the ability of a material to transmit energy). So not only silver has the highest thermal conductivity of any element, but it also has the highest light reflectance. You can buy investment gold or silver. They sell those in the form of bars, coins, and others. You can trade that for other goods like guns or food. People will always need gold and silver, even unbelievers that think gold and silver are worthless junk. They will want it because secretly they will believe when the collapse ends soon, they’ll be rich. And if the collapse never ends, these are still precious metals. Your computer and smartphone have a few grams of gold and silver probably. All the motherboards and circuit boards have it.

6. Medicine and antibiotics. Clearly you’ll need that. While viral infections go on their own and you can’t treat them with anything than Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), you’ll still need antibiotics for the bacterial infections that constantly attack our bodies. During a collapse, the hygiene will be at a very low in specific areas and regions, many people won’t have the opportunity to shower, so that’s why you will need medicine. The Tamiflu by the way is pretty expensive and is an antiviral medication used to treat and prevent only influenza A and influenza B. Just get standard antibacterial antibiotics and vitamins.

7. Good bag and backpack like the Maxpedition. You need a good strong bag with thick stitches so your stuff won’t fall out. The last thing you want is to leave your stuff out in the open, free for people. Yes, there are more expensive options out there, but Maxpedition is fine for most of the people. And the really advanced preppers like military, ex-military and special forces probably won’t be reading this articles for life tips, so. You can get the Maxpedition Falcon or Condor bag, and get an additional Maxpedition Doppelduffel bag. The Doppelduffel can also be carried as a regular backpack (it has straps).

8. Robust off-road SUV for heavy terrain. You’ll need to get out as soon as possible. Out of town. You’ll need to get your family out. Regroup with friends or other known groups. Walking by foot is something really retarded. You will most certainly meet other people that can end you then and there. A short chaotic burst of AK47 rounds is a 99.9% sure way to put you down for good. You get shot in the hand, you’re done. It will infect, it will cause you massive pain, you’ll bleed, you won’t be able to hold a weapon, prepare food, or chop wood. You’re proper done, mate.

So get a vehicle.

#HowToWhatever recommends the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen (older models from 1985–1999). The G-Wagon is the only vehicle that comes with 100% locking differentials out of the factory. It’s heavy, it has solid and even more heavier metal bumpers, it’s a massive car built for the German Army. The company that does the G-class is the Austrian Magna Steyr firearms manufacturer. Yes, a gun company that does cars for Mercedes-Benz. You heard that right. You can get through everything with this vehicle. It demands respect and scares thugs off. Less plastic, more metal. Heavy sturdy build. Has back and front metal bumpers. It’s big and boxy and can carry a lot of your prepps, and gallons of water. It has a big fuel tank. The differentials, if you ever saw one, the metal on these is so thick. They obviously didn’t spare the metal. The gearboxes are “a million mile”.

Stars like Justin Biebs drive G-Wagons around Hollywood Boulevard because they want to look ruff and tuff, but there’s more about this car than this. Grab a pair of BFGoodrich All Terrains and you’re ready to go in deep snow and not that deep mud, but still — mud. Or Mud Terrains for mud, but not that much snow. They won’t be able to grip good.

You can equip it with a winch too, just in case you need to pull yourself out of a mud pit.

The G-Wagons are expensive, more than the Jeep Wrangler, or the Bronco. Way more. But there’s areason for that too. A hell of a good reason. And the design hasn’t been changed for 40 years. Wonderwhy! They also come with massive engines. The G500 has a V8 petrol engine. You’re driving a tank forthe equivalent of a couple of bucks.

See a few videos below of the action:

9. Paracord. You can’t just go without a paracord rope. You can make real climbing rope out of it, by the way. You can prepare food, make snare traps, catch bunnies, foxes, make human traps, create a shelter, isolate your shelter, make tents, everything. Get a lot of paracord. You’ll need a ton of it. And it’s cheap.

More about the paracord:

Parachute cord (also paracord or 550 cord when referring to type-III paracord) is a lightweight nylon kernmantle rope originally used in the suspension lines of parachutes. This cord is useful for many other tasks and is now used as a general purpose utility cord by both military personnel and civilians. This versatile cord was even used by astronauts during the 82nd Space Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

10. Hydration system like CamelBak. And a bunch of water purifying tablets. Having water with you is crucial. The hydration system lets you carry water on your back (3 liters). And you can drink while on the go. You can also use the same hydration pack for showering. Just fill it with water, position the nozzle, and shower in the woods like a boss, no problem.

11. Compass. If you don’t know where you’re going, what are you exactly doing? You can purchase a metal durable compass like the NDUR for $15.

12. Magnesium Fire Starter. So you can start your fire, as many times as you like. Yes, you can prepare fire like an neanderthal, but you’ll damage your palms and hands, and it takes a ton of time. And what if it’s wet and rain won’t stop pouring? Good luck, bro. Just grab a $10 magnesium flint lighter.

13. Spyderco pocket sharpener. If you can carry the Spyderco Tri-Angle sharpener — that’s great, man. If not, get a pocket sharpener, a small ceramic tile from Spyderco. It’s super small and light and costs nothing.

14. A Victorinox multi tool. A full sized one, not the Swiss little knife-y thing. Don’t buy Leatherman. I know they’re American, but the locking plates on the Charge TTI break for example, and the smaller models bend like rubber.

Everything else is not mandatory. You can survive without every little small thing people recommend you to have at all times. You don’t need sun lotion when people are trying to shoot you in the lungs.

As a bonus, if you have enough space, and you’re not walking by foot and have a car, you can get these things to make your life easier: